Newt News

Newt OS LXDE 2.6.14 has been released. (No I didn't skip a number, 2.6.13 didn't have enough changes to be a new release) This release fixes issues with GTK themes by including several theme engines. Because of this change, a few standard GTK themes have also been added. Feel free to try them out. Additionally, the default theme has been

set to "OSTheme" which is just a combination of the ozone3 Openbox theme and the QTCurve GTK theme. Credits go to the designers of each theme. Also, if this hasn't been mentioned before, the Icon theme used in this appliance is Faenza.

There are more features coming to Newt OS LXDE. I love the customization options of LXDE, but there is no system-wide search option, which is something that I personally rely on each day. I am looking at different possibilities for search apps, if you have a favorite, please comment below.

The final release of Newt OS LXDE is ready! It is more polished than the previous build, and is ready for general use.

Of course, this isn't the end of development for this OS. Quite the contrary, this is simply the first stable release. There are still many improvements to be made. Some known issues are

Issues with the GTK theme

Logo on LXDM needs editing

Volume can't be controlled with volume keys

These issues will be resolved in future releases, and shouldn't be a problem if you want to use Newt OS LXDE. As always, if you have any suggestions, please comment both here and on the SUSE Studio pages. Also, there is a short survey on the "Suggestions" page where you can leave suggestions as well.

The final Beta of Newt OS LXDE is ready for release! This release includes Audacity, Firefox, and Docky as new software selections. It also boasts a new GTK and openbox theme, Ozone3. This is the default theme for Lubuntu, a popular LXDE-based version of Ubuntu. This theme displays better than Adwaita, and will be used for the final release. You may also notice that the LXDM login screen has changed to include Newt OS branding, featuring the newly designed logo! Let me know what you think of it in the comments. Overall, this release provides a cleaner, more organized Newt OS experience, and is a final step towards a stable release.If you have any suggestions for a better design, software you would like to see included, or any questions about Newt OS, please leave a comment below. ~Newt

This month has been an exciting time for Newt OS. One of the most relieving things is that the main build of Newt OS is finally on a regular release schedule, rather than a "release-whenever-it-doesn't-crash" schedule. The other cool thing is that the LXDE version of Newt OS has come a long way from its slow beginnings. I have to admit, the teen years have been difficult, but with some counselling, we've made it through, and I'm proud of where it's at today. That said, there are still many exciting developments in store. These include a finalized release of Newt OS LXDE by the end of the month, the release of the 3.1.2 update, and a change in the Newt OS logo. The current logo is nice, but it was a very small resolution (128x148) which wasn't fun to work with. The new logo is based off of the current one, but will be a higher resolution and feature a more personalized font. I won't say any more to keep it a surprise. As for new releases, the 3.1.2 update will be released in early August, probably around the 2nd or 3rd. The finalized release of Newt OS LXDE will come sooner, hopefully by July 25th. Both releases will include Adobe Flash Player pre-installed, as well as Audacity, a popular audio recording program. Newt OS LXDE includes Firefox as the web browser, and 3.1.2 will reintroduce Firefox to Newt OS. This is to keep consistency across the different versions of Newt OS. Another change in the works is a change in the naming scheme. The appliance titled "Newt OS 3" is going to be renamed to just Newt OS, as the version number will change, but I hope to continue development on the same appliance. Additionally, Newt OS 2 LXDE will be renamed to just Newt OS LXDE for the same reason. The final change I should mention is one that I'm still undecided on. As you already know, there are two versions of Newt OS, one with the Gnome desktop, and one with LXDE. Developing both separately isn't all too difficult, but it is impractical, and it keeps me from devoting time solely to making Newt OS better. To solve this, I would like to have just one version, with either Gnome or LXDE, but I cannot choose between the two. Both have their pros and cons. So, I'd like your opinions. Leave your thoughts in the comments below, or on the download pages. ~Newt

I want to give a great big thank you to Jon, the creator of SUdows 7, for helping me fix many of the problems with Newt OS LXDE. Not only did he respond to my emails, but his responses were helpful and informative. With his advice, I redid all the overlay files in the build, edited several configuration files, and have released a new build to show how much I can accomplish in a few hours of guided work.

That said, I should discusses the changes made in Newt OS LXDE (13.2). First off, it now uses lxdm rather than gdm for the display manager (read; login screen has changed). Second, the panel theme and layout, window theme, icons, and background have been pre-set using edited config files (read; you don't have to poke around to make it look like the pictures). Third, Firefox is the included browser, replacing Midori, since openSUSE does not provide an updated version. Finally, I believe that the network manager works to some extent, coming as close as recognizing my wireless network, but not wanting to connect. However, this was the only issue I found, and I think that it is situational and not a problem with the OS.

Now that I've finally fixed many of the glaring issues, I need your help. What can be improved in Newt OS? What features would you like to see included? Do you prefer Gnome or LXDE? Is there something I'm missing? I welcome any tips, suggestions, and of course questions regarding Newt OS. This is being developed not only as a personal hobby, but more importantly to make a powerful yet user-friendly Linux distro. Even if all you do is suggest an app to include, it will help.

Well, the worst that could happen happened. Not really, but close to it. Newt OS LXDE 2.5.10 performed pretty well in testing until it came to testing on a live USB, where it promptly refused to work with networking services. This is frustrating as it should have worked, since 2.4.5 worked very well on the same hardware. Anyways, no network connection is a big problem, especially when it doesn't admit that it can't connect. I couldn't connect to any webpages, and the package manager could not refresh the repositories. Other than that, it did decently. The themes for LXDE didn't all install correctly (2 conflicting versions of a package titled "Numix") but the ones that did install correctly displayed correctly. Gnome functioned brilliantly, except for Shotwell, which crashed before starting displaying the message "Unable to create folder at /home/Newt/.local/share/shotwell". I have never had this problem in a build, and I do not know how to fix it. If anyone out there has any ideas, please share them with me. So what am I going to do now? Well, I'm going to poke at the package list for this release and add some more wi-fi drivers that are included in Newt OS 3. I didn't think they were necessary, but it can't hurt to try. I also ditched Midori, because it may be part of the problem, and replaced it with Firefox. I am also trying not including any modified files (these are files I include to pre-set the theme and other settings for you, the user) in hopes that all of this was just because of one goofy file. If I am unable to solve this problem with this build, I will remove it and find a new base for it. I have heard good things about John Doe's "LXDEX" build, especially in terms of stability. If I cannot build my own LXDE spin of Newt OS, I will attempt to build one based on his release. In the meantime, please contribute any possible plans for future releases, troubleshooting help, or advice. Working solo at times like this is challenging. At the same time, don't give up on Newt OS, the main build is still stable, and this setback won't keep me from moving forward. It might just take some time. ~Newt

I have built an updated version of Newt OS LXDE, numbered 2.5.10 which is based on Newt OS 2. This means that all versions of Newt OS are built on the same openSUSE 13.2 base, which provides more consistency and makes it easier for me to develop them. For you the user though, there are some exciting changes. First, since this was built by cloning Newt OS 2.4.5, it includes the Gnome desktop in addition to LXDE. I originally was going to try to remove Gnome, but decided to leave it for sake of time. Frustratingly, the default DE is still Gnome, but it is easy to choose which desktop to use by simply clicking the gear icon on the login screen and selecting the desired desktop. Second, this release includes several theme choices for the LXDE desktop! They include two versions of Numix (one is a green style, the other red) as well as a theme called Mistral. Also included are the default LXDE themes like Clearlooks, Adwaita, etc. Of course, if you wish to get a different theme, you can find them online. LXDE uses the Openbox window manager, so all you have to do is download an openbox theme, and extract it to /home/Newt/.themes/ Overall, this release is very similar to version 2.5.5 in appearance, but under the hood it is better supported, and better updated. On the other hand, it is an experimental version, and though it is stable, it has tons of room for improvement. That said, please leave your thoughts in the comments here or on the download page at SUSE studio. I am open to any ideas for improvement. That's it for this release. Please download it here or try it out in testdrive, and leave your thoughts in the comments. Thanks!~Newt

Newt OS version 3.1.1 has been released. Nothing significant has been changed in this release, it simply includes updates to software. If you are running version 3.1.0, and have kept your software up to date, then you have nothing to worry about. If you are a newcomer to the Newt OS project, please download version 3.1.1 as it will include updated software relative to that included with 3.1.0. It's been a while since there's been any activity on this project. School was part of that, and lack of interest was another. If you have any suggestions or constructive criticism, please feel free to comment either on this blog or on the SUSE Studio webpage. Working solo on a project is exciting, and certainly makes decision-making that much easier, but it lacks motivation, especially when a project is stable, and there is not much that really needs to be changed dramatically. However, I am working on an LXDE version of Newt OS 3, which will be interesting. Also, if you haven't heard, openSUSE 42 is due to be released in early November, and when it becomes available in SUSE Studio, expect to see Newt OS 4 in the gallery. Until then, Newt OS 3 will be my main focus, specifically working on merging the LXDE and Gnome versions of the operating system. This will mostly be for testing purposes, to see if one DE is any better than the other. Thanks for using Newt OS!~Newt